Real earnings in November 2009

December 23, 2009

Real average hourly earnings fell 0.5 percent from October to November, seasonally adjusted. A 0.5-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) more than offset a 0.1-percent increase in average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers.

Real average hourly earnings fell 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, from November 2008 to November 2009. A 0.6-percent decline in average weekly hours combined with the decrease in real average hourly earnings resulted in a 0.7-percent decrease in real average weekly earnings during this period.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. Earnings data are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see “Real Earnings—November 2009” (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL- 09-1533.